Weird National Briefs (09/12/2018)

BOLIVAR, Ohio - Authorities in eastern Ohio say a grocery store employee has been charged with felony theft for helping herself to deli ham for years.

Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Deputy Brian Hale tells The Columbus Dispatch that an eight-year employee of regional grocery chain Giant Eagle was charged Friday with stealing food estimated by the store to be worth $9,200.

The store’s loss prevention manager received a tip that an employee had been eating three to five slices of ham nearly every day over eight years. Authorities say she also sometimes ate salami.

Other details including her name weren’t available immediately.

The store is in Bolivar, some 70 miles south of Cleveland.

TME – Ham-azing!

Gridiron glamour

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. - One Mississippi high school senior had to quickly discard her crown after being named homecoming queen - and put on a football helmet.

Kaylee Foster was crowned homecoming queen of Ocean Springs High School before Friday night’s football game.

She then put on her football uniform and later kicked the winning extra point to lead her team to a 13-12 victory over George County High School, local news outlets reported.

Foster kicked two field goals earlier, giving her a majority of the team’s points.

Primarily a soccer player, Foster has been kicking with the football varsity since she was a sophomore. She’s been a member of the homecoming court for four years.

She put her crown back on after the game, posing for photos in her football uniform and tiara.

Asked whether she was more nervous before the homecoming queen announcement or before her kick, she told The Mississippi Press, “I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to be homecoming queen, but I was pretty sure I was going to make that kick.”

TME – We got a kick out of this one.

Police proposal

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. - A woman was in for a huge surprise when Miami Beach police pulled her over.

She and her boyfriend got out of the car. An officer asked the boyfriend if he had anything to say.

And that’s when the man, identified as Kenneth, got down on one knee, held out a ring and said, “I just want you to marry me.”

She tells the officer she doesn’t know what to say. She looks back at her boyfriend, waiting on bended knee, and looks closer at the ring.

Finally, she says “Yes,” and police say “Congratulations, guys!”

Spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez said Kenneth had come into the station asking for help with his proposal.

TME – Feel free to make your own “ball and chain” joke here.

Bird burger business

HAMPTON, N.H. - A man accused of kicking a seagull that tried to eat his cheeseburger at a New Hampshire beach has been fined $124.

Police investigated the report from a bystander at Hampton Beach earlier this summer.

NH1 reports the man Nate Rancloes, said he had just returned from getting a cheeseburger and fries and was sitting on the sand. He said seagulls got to the burger, and he spun around with his leg to shoo one away, but struck the bird. He said it was a simple mistake.

A witness said it appeared the bird’s leg was injured and that it struggled to fly away.

New Hampshire Fish and Game Lt. Adam Cheeney says seagulls are protected under federal law.

TME – Such fowl behavior.

Un-pee-lievable

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - A sarcastic sign in the window of a Connecticut restaurant asking people not to let their dogs pee on the eatery’s outside flower pot has earned the owner a $250 fine.

Duc Nguyen, owner of Duc’s Place in New Haven, tells the New Haven Independent he was disgusted with people allowing their dogs to urinate on his pot.

He thought a humorous sign was a good way of discouraging dog walkers from letting pets relieve themselves there. It read: “Attn: dog owners. This is a pay-per-pee flower pot. (Pay inside or leave your address and we’ll kindly return the favor.)”

Honda Smith, the city’s public space enforcement officer, said Nguyen broke two city ordinances for being a public nuisance and issued the fine Tuesday. Nguyen says he plans to appeal.

TME – Urine so much trouble now, pal!

Overly efficient

ST. LOUIS - A St. Louis man is the new tenant of a tiny apartment with a unique layout - the kitchen and bathroom are in the same place.

Yep. The toilet, bathtub, oven and sink are all in one room. The 200-square-foot (18.5-sq. meter) apartment is in St. Louis’ tony Central West End.

The ad and photo for the $525-per-month apartment appeared on several websites and had people flush with excitement. Harold Karabell of S.F. Shannon Real Estate Management says the new tenant loves it.

The 111-year-old building originally housed 12 luxury apartments. Karabell says that around the time of the Great Depression, it was remade into 50 small units, the studio the smallest among them.

Toilet/kitchen combo aside, Karabell says the apartment has a lot to like, including refinished hardwood floors and new windows.